Pati Jinich is host of the popular James Beard Award winning and Emmy nominated PBS series Pati's Mexican Table, author of two cookbooks, and resident chef at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, DC. This is her official website where she shares recipes from her show and new recipes in her blog, plus upcoming events, recent news, and more.

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Cactus Paddles or Nopales: Cleaning and Cooking

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Cactus Paddles or Nopales: Cleaning and Cooking

Cleaning and cooking nopales can seem challenging if you are not familiar with the ingredient. Truth is, cleaning them, can be a bit daunting at first. That’s why I CANNOT wait for cleaned and diced fresh nopales to be readily available in grocery stores here in the US, just like they are in Mexico. But while that happens, let me give you some tricks.

First, to choose them, you want paddles that are bright green and although soft, not limp. The smaller the paddle the more tender it will be, but large ones are delicious too.

To clean them, if it’s your first time, you may want to use plastic gloves. Rinse under cold water being careful with the thorns. Nopales are persnickety, their thorns are almost invisible, but a good clue is that wherever there is a bump there may be a thorn. Then, using a vegetable peeler or small sharp knife, pretty much as if they were asparagus, peel away the bumps and thorns, you may want to lean the nopales against a chopping board, and then rinse again. No need to peel off all of the outer dark green skin, in fact, try to keep as much as you can.

Lay the paddle flat on a chopping board and trim about ¼ inch off the edges and about ½ inch of the thick base. Then slice in any shape or size, or keep it whole if it will be grilled or asada or used as a mounting base. I usually cut them into little squares and rectangles as I mostly use them for salads and soups.

As for how to cook them, there are many ways. A main concern for newcomers is how to get rid of that gelatinous liquid they exude as they cook. Variations go from cooking them in salted water to adding elements that supposedly help, like tomatillo husks, scallion tops, baking soda and even a copper coin. Whichever way you boil them, once cooked you have to drain and rinse them many times.

My favorite way to cook them, aside from grilling them, is to sear them in a skillet with a bit of oil for a few minutes and then let them cook covered until all of that liquid comes out, then uncover until all that liquid cooks off. Pretty much like cooking mushrooms. Not only does it work, but it also adds a nice seared flavor with merely any oil and you don’t have to drain and rinse many times. See below for precise directions, and give it a go!

Basic Cooking for Cactus Paddles

My favorite way to cook them, aside from grilling them, is to sear them in a skillet with a bit of oil for a few minutes and then let them cook covered until all of that liquid comes out, then uncover until all that liquid cooks off. Pretty much like cooking mushrooms. Not only does it work, but it also adds a nice seared flavor with merely any oil and you don’t have to drain and rinse many times. See below for precise directions, and give it a go!

Ingredients

2tablespoonssafflower or corn oil

3poundsnopales, rinsed, cleaned and diced

Kosher or sea salt to taste

To Prepare

Rinse the fresh cactus paddles under cold water, being careful not to prick your fingers with the small thorns on its surface. Using a vegetable peeler or small sharp knife, peel away the darker bumps where thorns grow, as well as the thorns, trying not to peel off all the outer dark green skin.

Lay the paddles flat on a chopping board, then trim around approximately 1/4 inch of the edges and 1/2 inch of the thick base. Once cleaned, rinse and dice into 1/2 to 1 inch-sized squares, to your liking.

Heat the oil in a thick, large-sized skillet (one that has a lid, since we will need it later on) over medium-high heat. Add the diced cactus, stir in the salt and stir for a minute or two. Place the lid on the skillet.

Reduce the heat to medium and let the cactus cook and sweat for about 20 minutes, until it has exuded a gelatinous liquid that will begin to dry out. Take the lid off the skillet, stir and make sure most of that gelatinous substance has dried up. If it hasn’t, let the cactus cook for a few more minutes until it does. Let the cactus cool and they are ready to go in a thousand directions including inside of a tortilla.

While looking at a prickly pear on the property and desperate for a fresh vegetable during quarantine, I remembered watching you do a show with Nopales. I am going to attempt it and was hoping and so happy to see that you had a web page on how to prepare it! Thank you! Will go on to look for recipes. Thanks

I was given some prepared fresh nopales paddles that were boiled…I’ve used some that I cut into strips & I sautéd w/onions and cooked in with scrambled eggs & into tacos…I have a few left….how long will they keep in fridge and also can I freeze for later use?

Why is the slime not desired ? Is it bad for you? My mom’s from Mexico City and the way she learned to cook it was to leave it slimy and use little or no water. I’ve made it that way too, but all online say drain the slime. To me it seems it will be all dry and less natural flavor.

Thank you for the information on napilatos. Love your show. If you do a show on crab enchiladas I would like to know. Sometimes it’s hard to get the perfect taste with crab and try to keep it authentic.

I stopped at the little tienda in my neighborhood. They had cactus paddles, but all the skin was peeled off. Should I buy them? Had to come home a search info about the cactus. Seems like they peeled them too much.

Did you use fresh nopales or canned or bottled ones, Tony? The ones that are preserved are lightly pickled. Fresh ones do have a bit of a tart taste, but I love it! To find the paddles that will be the least tart, make sure that the nopales are fresh and don’t have any dark spots on the surface.

I’m fortunate that here in California cleaned and diced fresh nopales are readily available and many grocery stores during the summer and can be found at Mexican markets like Fiesta and Vallarta almost year round.
I like to cook mine like you do but add garlic, chile powder and diced Spanish onion. Yum.

This helped a lot. Mom’s 88 and she’s forgotten how she used to make nopales. She helped me cut some paddles off our plant and I cleaned and diced them. Using your cooking instructions I cooked my first batch of nopales. Mom loved them and I even ate some. Thank you.

Hi Pati,
Never knew it could be eaten I’m from the island of Jamaica where this thing grow wild,
We use it for a different reason we used it as conditioner for our hair and also soak in water over night drink it for cleansing our intestines I’m having it now as my drinking water for the day

You can get a self-lighting blowtorch at Home Depot for around $30 and use it to burn off the tiny, persnickety thorns. You can burn them off before you cut them off the cactus or you can cut them off the cactus and burn the tiny thorns off in the comfort of your kitchen. Flip a cookie sheet or metal baking pan over (so there is an air gap protecting your counter top from getting burned.) Put the nopal on the cookie sheet and hit both sides quickly but thoroughly “against the grain” so the green, fleshy nub doesn’t protect the thorn from the flame.

Thank you Pati, lightly frying Nopales delivers the best taste. I told my mother from Mexico she was amazed, boiling was her only method. Once finished you have so many options, but Nopales salad with queso fresco, is my first choice, my friends ask if I was angry when I make the salad, because I use so many Serrano’s love your show, it’s the only one I record.

my grandmother was from Mexico City or actually Dolores Hiladgo, she loved nopales and cooked them for us with eggs and with chili for my parents. to this day my mother loves them with eggs and my brother in law mixes them with tamales for breakfast….

Hola Pati ~ I will be in your neck of the woods for Christmas and would like to know where to find nopalitos to substitute them in a green bean casserole. Couldn’t find them last year at the Safeway etc.

Also you are the BEST host of any cooking show! You are so intelligent, knowledgeable, and such a sweetheart. When they made cooking, and then television, they waited for you to complete the perfect combination!!! Your show is such a delight!

I want to eat them for the health benefits, so I don’t want to get rid of the gelatinous substance. But I don’t like eating slimy stuff either. Does anyone know if this method still preserves the health benefits? Even though it’s no longer slimy, maybe the mucilegenous properties are still there…?

FYI My mole de olla was awesome! I was at Fiesta(grocery store in Texas) again today and found bags of beautiful pre cleaned and cut Nopales! They looked so good I had to buy them. I have had nopales before while eating out and they are IMO tastier than green beans! Do you think drying them out after cooking is the best/quickest way to go to eliminate the gel? Would adding some tomatillos be good flavor wise? I would love to have my husband become comfortable cooking different foods but its finding the best way to cook them. Even though he likes okra( talk about making gel!) he won’t try to cook the nopales. I must make them as yummy as possible to overcome his mental block to Nopales. Any additional hints!

Why is it sour? I made it like you said and my Mexican boyfriend, who had a crush on you, even said it tasted like there was vinegar added. Is this normal? I’m trying to learn to cook like his mamsita. Please help!

Hi Cristi, Did you use fresh nopales or canned or bottled ones? The ones that are preserved are lightly pickled. Fresh ones do have a bit of a tart taste, but I love it! You have to make sure that the nopales are fresh and don’t have any dark spots on the surface.

Pati I loved you on PBS. I am from Montana and my husband is from Mexico. We decided to retire to northern Chiuahuah and I am loving it here. I am Mexican too but I was limited at the stores. Now, I am in heaven and learning all sort of things. I just learned about the nopal and was showen many of the methods to get rid of the gelatin stuff. Needless to say I do not cook it often but I do drink it. In my blender I mix 1/2 cup of store bought,diced nopal with an apple. I add enough liquid, ie water, or juice of my choice, blend

to desired thickness. It is delicious . We drink this every morning before breakfast

Hola Pati,
Soy una gringa, but I saw the cactus leaf at my local store and really wanted to find out what to with it. especially ’cause it was only 25 cents. It was worth trying. I made it this morning via your easy recipe and we had it in a soft taco (corn) with cheese and Del Taco sauce, our favorite. It was delicious. Thank you, or, gracias!

What are other ways to eat the cactus? My husband ate it several years in Mexico he sad it was on the tables as salsa. I found it in a Mexican store bought it found your Webb sight and fixed it, the girl at the store told me to but it on eggs.

I cook them like okra. It also has a gelatinous ‘slime’ that when you
add flour to absorb it, is not a problem. I dice them, salt them, add enough flour to coat them,then a little corn meal to add some crunch. Fry them in a skillet just like you would okra.

hello…am a student in kenya doing a study on the nopal pads….in our country they grow in the dry areas and they are actually taken as unpleasant.now i cant wait to go pick them and make a meal plus a lovely successful project

Dear Pati,
When my husband saw your email he insisted that I tell you we watch your show always and he loves your accent. We live in Central Texas so we can use all your recipes and tips. Love you and your family trips.

Well, our neighbors’ cactus grew over the fence and was competing for space with our humongous tomatoes. The cactus reached out and stung my husband who doesn’t have pleasant feelings about cactus in the first place!! Anyway, he chopped off the offending ‘paddles’, with their fruits (which are still green and prickly) and now we have a huge garbage bag full off nopales. My question is: you describe them as ‘bright green’ and ours don’t seem as bright as the ones in your picture. Can we still use them? (my husband has diabetes – maybe, just maybe I could convince him to try some!!)

Hello. I live in Andalucia, Southern Spain and this plants grows wild everywhere. Never knew you could cook the big what I call ‘leaves’ but I do know that the fruit if despiked, washed and then put in the fridge makes a wonderful thirst quenching ‘drink’. I know that the green leaves can be picked up from the roadside, and left in the sun to dry out when the flesh can be taken out and you are left with beautiful skelton lacy object to be used in your crafts.

Thank you for your recipes. Recently I decided to change my diet and serve nopales at least twice a week. I love to cook and cooked nopales per your recipe and added shrimp (season per your taste) with juice of two small limes. Let it cool. I filled wonton skins, fried them and served with salsa. Que Rico!!

Hi,
I renounced meat for Lent so I have been trying tons of new (to me) vegetables lately. Never tried nopales before but these guys did remind me a lot of okra, in more than just the goo, but also the slight sourness to them.

So I searched for this a little late: after I just cooked up a bunch of pre-chopped nopales from HEB (Texas Grocer).

I freeze Nopales after parboiling for one minute, cooling and cutting into strips (or squares). I pat dry them to reduce moisture in the freezer bag or vacuum pak.

You might find it fun to experiment to see how many different ways you can use Nopales. It can be used raw in many different salads. Cooked and cooled it can be used as substitute in any almost any kind of salad. It can easily be an added or substitute ingredient in cooked main course dishes.

Rusty

I have not tried, but expect it could even be made into a desert item with a little added honey or brown sugar.

Always look for the tender pads from the younger plants. It grows wild in many parts of the US,and is cultivated in AZ and probably more places in the US.

I have always loved nopales, but never cooked it at home. I used your recipe for my first time cooking it. This was the best I’ve ever had!!! Over 30 years of eating it, and now I won’t want it any other way! Thank you so much!!! So easy!

Hey Pati, I go over to Mexico at least once a week while in South Texas for the winter months. I always see them selling cactus cut up in squares like the pic I saw in this article. Was always wondering how to prepare them. Someone said that cooking them as you have described, then adding garlic, raw tomatoes and raw onions makes a great salsa type meal. Does this sound like something I should try? Or do you have a better suggestion along these lines? Also, if I find I really like them, is there a way to preserve them, such as freezing so I can have them during the summer months when I’m back in Michigan? Thanks for any advice you can give! 🙂

Es,
Best idea is to try Latin stores near you, or you can talk to the produce manager of the stores you frequent and put in a special request. The more requests they get, the more likely they will carry them!

I have a friend who swears Nopales has lowered his blood pressure to the point he off medication. I have no idea if it really has helped him or not. I recently started putting it into my daily green drink. I have also tried it in salad. (Good). My favorite was ground with spinach, kale, Swiss chard, Jalapeno pepper and chicken, rolled into meat balls with one egg to help hold it together, and served with my wheat spaghetti.

Health benefits of Nopales as found on the web.
◾
Nopales are one of very low calorie vegetable. 100 g of fresh leaves provides just 16 calories. Nonetheless, its modified leaves (paddles) have many vital phytochemicals, anti-oxidants, vitamins, and minerals that can immensely benefit health.

◾
The succulent paddles are rich sources of non-carbohydrate polysaccharides like pectin, mucilage and hemicellulose, which help reduce LDL-cholesterol, diabetes, and weight reduction. This rich fiber and mucilaginous content aid in smooth pass through of digested food particles and relieve constipation condition.

◾
In addition, the juice extracted from these pads has been suggested to have immune-booster, and anti-inflammatory properties.

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Cactus pads feature moderate amounts of vitamin A with 100 g fresh pads provide about 457 IU of vitamin A, and 250 µg of ß-carotene. ß-carotene convert into vitamin-A inside the body. Studies found that vitamin A and flavonoid compounds in vegetables help to protect from skin, lung and oral cavity cancers.

◾
In addition, nopal pads contain small levels of B-complex group of vitamins such as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine), and pantothenic acid those are essential for optimum cellular enzymatic and metabolic functions.

◾
Fresh pads contain average levels of vitamin C. 100 g provides 9.3 mg or 15% of this vitamin. Vitamin C is a water-soluble, natural anti-oxidant, which helps the body protect from scurvy and offer resistance against infectious agents (boost immunity), and help scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals from the body.

◾
They contain small amounts of minerals, especially calcium, potassium, magnesium and iron.

I have always wanted to try and cook this as well as my father in law. He and a group of misfit family member, Myself included have a cooking show that will be featured on The Rachael Ray show coming soon. I will be trying this recipe on Sunday to give him a going away present. Monday he is flying to Nueva York to be on her show and I would like to give him the something new to expand his inspiration.

Hi, two years ago I started a prickly pear plant because I wanted the pears.
This week I decided to try eating the “leaves” , partly because thwy were multiplying
Quickly. Before I read youre website I had boiled them for a few minutes. So I took them
Out, removed the prickes, then sautéed them in oil with a few chopped onions. They were
Really tasty, except for the more mature leaves which had tough strings in them. I would
like to know what their nutritional value is. I’m sure there is some- all edibles have something
good for you in them. Thank you.

Hi Teresa, Thank you so much for your message! Prickly pear cactus paddles are very nutritious. I always say I think they are going to be the new “super food” trend because they are loaded with Iron, Vitamin A and Vitamin C. Here’s some more info: http://patijinich.com/2012/06/cactus_paddles/

I grow my own cactus but they are thorn-less, surprised you haven’t recommended these. If your followers want thorn-less varieties to grow just look for them at just about any ornamental garden, take a pad throw it on any well drained soil and it will grow. All cactus here in Texas have thorns except the ones in our flowerbeds, but be careful they may hybridize. FYI the real treat are the fleshy, 1/2 inch, bright green tubercles that replace the thorns, great raw. Also we make really good purple prickly pear jelly.

Hola Pati
I’m very happy that I have found your shows thru PBS, now I follow you on you wesite,
I live in Miami and I want to plant an eadible cactus plant in my backyard since
I can not find fresh Nopales in the groceries stores im here,
how do I look for one? do you know where they sell them?

Just moved to a neighborhood where the local grocery has pre-cleaned nopales. I am so excited to try them as I love trying new foods, especially vegetables. I never met a vegetable I didn’t like! Thank you for your directions. I’m confident now to experiment with them.

Googling around I found this page. Maybe the place to find a answer to my question? Living in Cyprus, a small island south of Turkey and Greece, we have plenty of wild cactuses here that looks like cactuses eaten in Mexico.

But I can’t find out if this paddles are eatable or not. The cactuses here looks the same, but they also give cactus fruits that are popular here. A green, yellow and later red fruit.

Hello Pati,
I’ve been growing them in my back yard here in Northern California, for myself. This time of year is perfict for the picking. I cut them up in the shape of green beans, sear them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. With my venison chops, brown rice, and a Italian table wine, its a meal “fit for a king.” BB

Pati, I just hold the paddles over my gas stove until the thorns are burned, then remove the nubs. Very easy and NO stickers! I’ve been eating them for years, and only once got a sticker in my mouth when I was just started to use them. BB

Was looking for the best way to cook the cactus paddles and found your method the best! Thank you! I was shopping at a local produce stand and ran into a Latino man who told me this is the best food to lower blood sugar.. This is my quest! Here we go!

My girlfriend and I decided to make these after catching your show, which we love, on Create/PBS. I got the hang of de-prickling the nopales by the second paddle. The prep work was totally worth it… the nopales turned out delicious using your method.

Hi Pati! My husband and I are new fans of your show on Create/PBS here in Alaska. Thanks so much for this article! I recently bought a fresh cactus paddle at the supermarket to “play with” and had no idea what to do with it. Now I can’t wait to cook it up- it will be my first time tasting cactus!

Hola Pati, viewer from Los Angeles. Thank you for the episode on cooking nopales. I love nopales but the gelatinous liquid always an issue no matter how many gallons of water I use to rinse and I’m not a fan of the jarred ones sold at the grocery. I’m going to try this method as it sounds like it would work to dry off the liquid in the pan. Enjoying your show…. Feliz Navidad!

Hi Pati, my mother simply boils the nopales. The secret is she adds a piece of bread. She says that the bread absorbs all the sticky stuff. Have you heard of this method.
We eat it in a salad with tomatoes, onions, and chiles serranos with plenty of lime juice on a tostada topped with avocado